Occupational health and safety news and guidance

The director of a Bromley firm has given a suspended jail sentence
after removing asbestos without a licence and deceiving the householders
by providing a doctored air test saying the room was safe to re-enter.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigated the circumstances
of the incident and brought the prosecution against Mr Peter Horrey
under the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006.

On 13 September, Southwark Crown Court was told that Absolute Asbestos
Ltd. was hired to take out all the asbestos insulation from the boiler
room of a home in Camden. Mr Horrey, the sole director of the firm, did
the work over eleven days in July last year.

As well as being unlicensed to remove asbestos, Mr Horrey failed to
effectively clean and decontaminate the area. He left visible fibres
that were a danger to the householders and to the plumbers, who were due
to start work in the boiler room.

After he was finished, an analyst who went to take an air test
provided him with a certificate clearly showing the site had failed.
However, Mr Horrey provided a doctored report to the owners indicating
it had passed the test and was safe for them to re-enter, which they
did.

Mr Horrey, of Jackson Road, Bromley, Kent, had pleaded guilty at an
earlier hearing to three breaches of the asbestos regulations between 18
and 29 July 2011 at Greencroft Gardens, NW6. He was given six months'
prison sentence on each charge, to run concurrently and suspended for
two years; 300 hours' unpaid community service; given an electronic
curfew between 9pm and 6am for three months; ordered to pay £11,340 to
the affected Residents' Association in Camden and ordered to pay £10,160
costs.